She hasn’t competed on the track this
summer – or at least not in a race walking event – but European junior champion
Anezka Drahotova is the big favourite to win the 10,000m race walk in Eugene.

The talented Czech athlete, who turns
19 on the opening day of the championships, finished seventh at last year’s
senior IAAF World Championships in Moscow and will be joined on the team by her
twin sister Eliska, who took bronze at last year’s European Junior
Championships.

One day after the 10,000m race walk
final, Drahotova will line up for the heats of the 3000m steeplechase.

Chinese duo Wang Na and Ni Yuanyuan
are expected to pose a threat, so too are the Russian pair of world youth
champion Olga Shargina and European junior silver medallist Oksana Golyatkina.

Many of the leading contenders have
competed exclusively on the roads this season, leaving Viktoryia Rashchupkina of
Belarus as this year’s fastest performer on the track with 46:08.68.